Electrical/electronic component housings manufactured for use in the automotive industry are subjected to particularly harsh conditions including vibration, temperature-cycling, and shock. Electrical/electronic component housings used in such conditions, therefore, must meet rigorous design requirements of the automotive industry, particularly where the housing is designed to protect electrical circuitry for automotive operating equipment. Automotive electrical components which are designed for use with such equipment generally should: comprise a structurally robust and sealed body; be designed to most efficiently perform their electrical function, e.g. by maximization of power transmission to the equipment; and should be manufactured at the lowest achievable cost of production.
Injection-mold technology, which has the advantage of low production costs, is typically used in limited sectors of the electrical connector industry at large to provide an insulating shroud around a respective electrical contact system. However, such conventional molded contact shrouds do not meet the rigorous design requirements of the automotive industry.
A typical molded contact system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,697, which comprises a plastic plug body with electrical contacts molded therein. The outer surfaces of the plug body are shaped for the basic purpose of gripping of the plug by an operator. Additionally, the geometrical configurations of the electrical contacts, and their locations in the plug, are adapted for use with a conventional plug-and-socket type connection. In sum, the plug body is not particularly structurally robust, and it is not designed to comprise a sealing interface; moreover, the contacts are not designed to maximize power transmission. Thus the plug of the prior art is designed for the less rigorous demands of residential use, rather than for use in the automotive industry where rigorous design requirements are the norm.